“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”
(Ephesians 4:11–12, ESV)
While in the United States Army, my first duty assignment was as a tank platoon leader in Germany. One of my additional duties was to be the fitness training officer in Alpha Company. In this duty, I organized various competitive athletic events, supervised the annual physical fitness tests, and led the company in physical training exercises.
Every afternoon, I would take the men out to the parade field and go through a series of calisthenics after which I led them on a mile or two-mile run. For me a two-mile run was nothing. However, for some of the men it was a challenge. By the end of the run, probably ten to twenty percent of the men dropped out. We were not combat ready.
The question is this are we as believers ready for the rigors of the Christian life. For, we are engaged in a spiritual battle against opposing forces. This is what Paul wrote to the Ephesians.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV)
So, we are in a battle and must be in peak spiritual condition to wage war in this realm. The Lord has built His church and ordained that certain men would work in the church to be trainers of believers. Earlier in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote these words.
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,”
Pastors and others have been given to the church for a vital purpose. It is to equip people for the work of ministry. Just as leaders are assigned in the military to equip soldiers for the missions to which they will be assigned, pastors and teachers are to equip believers to be victorious in the Christian life and the church’s mission.
Here we are speaking of strengthening one spiritually. As the physical training officer worked to build up soldiers to experience peak physical health, pastors and teachers are to work at building up believers to experience peak spiritual health.
This work of the pastor and teacher is done in two ways. It is done through the ministry of the word of God and prayer. Pastors and teachers are required to rightly minister the word of God in the lives of people. Yet they must also remember that this is a divine, supernatural undertaking. It is not accomplished by human intellect alone. It happens through the ministry of the Holy Spirit working through the teacher and within the hearts of believers. Thus, prayer is vital for teaching to be effective in the spiritual realm.
However, there is one more vital aspect of this. It is the obedience of believers to submit to the accurate teaching of the Scriptures in the local church. This includes a prayerful understanding and response to the leadership of the Spirit as they are taught and study the word of God.
Renewing the Heart 